Time scale of an early to mid-Paleozoic orogenic cycle of the long-lived Central Asian Orogenic Belt, Inner Mongolia of China: Implications for continental growth

We present a detailed, new time scale for an orogenic cycle (oceanic accretion–subduction–collision) that provides significant insights into Paleozoic continental growth processes in the southeastern segment of the long-lived Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). The most prominent tectonic feature in Inner Mongolia is the association of paired orogens. A southern orogen forms a typical arc-trench complex, in which a supra-subduction zone ophiolite records successive phases during its life cycle: birth (ca. 497–477 Ma), when the ocean floor of the ophiolite was formed; (2) youth (ca. 473–470 Ma), characterized by mantle wedge magmatism; (3) shortly after maturity (ca. 461–450 Ma), high-Mg adakite and adakite were produced by slab melting and subsequent interaction of the melt with the mantle wedge; (4) death, caused by subduction of a ridge crest (ca. 451–434 Ma) and by ridge collision with the ophiolite (ca. 428–423 Ma). The evolution of the magmatic arc exhibits three major coherent phases: arc volcanism (ca. 488–444 Ma); adakite plutonism (ca. 448–438 Ma) and collision (ca. 419–415 Ma) of the arc with a passive continental margin. The northern orogen, a product of ridge-trench interaction, evolved progressively from coeval generation of near-trench plutons (ca. 498–461 Ma) and juvenile arc crust (ca. 484–469 Ma), to ridge subduction (ca. 440–434 Ma), microcontinent accretion (ca. 430–420 Ma), and finally to forearc formation. The paired orogens followed a consistent progression from ocean floor subduction/arc formation (ca. 500–438 Ma), ridge subduction (ca. 451–434 Ma) to microcontinent accretion/collision (ca. 430–415 Ma); ridge subduction records the turning point that transformed oceanic lithosphere into continental crust. The recognition of this orogenic cycle followed by Permian–early Triassic terminal collision of the CAOB provides compelling evidence for episodic continental growth.     

Indian Ocean-MORB-type isotopic signature of Yushigou ophiolite in North Qilian Mountains and its implications

Many researchers have focused on the tectonic evolution of North Qilian Mountains (NQM) since the 1970s[1―7]. However, the tectonic affinity of the an- cient oceanic mantle in early Paleozoic remains in de-bate. Three general explanations for it have been pro- posed. The first one suggests that the ancient ocean was a part of Proto-Tethys, and the tectonic evolution of NQM should be regarded as a portion of the562 Science in China: Series D Earth Sciences Tethyan tectonic domain[1]. …     

西秦岭北缘关子镇蛇绿岩的形成时代：来自辉长岩中LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb年龄的证据

西秦岭北缘天水地区关子镇蛇绿岩由变质基性火山岩(斜长角闪片岩)和蛇纹岩、变辉石岩、变辉长岩等构造岩块组成.其中的变质基性火山岩具有N-MORB的地球化学特征,显示关子镇蛇绿岩是洋脊型蛇绿岩残片.对蛇绿岩中的辉长岩进行了LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年,得到206Pb/238U加权平均年龄为(499.7±1.8)Ma(MSWD=2.2),代表了辉长岩的结晶年龄,表明关子镇蛇绿岩是晚寒武世在西秦岭北缘李子园-关子镇-武山洋盆扩张过程中岩浆活动的产物,代表了东秦岭早古生代商丹古洋盆在西秦岭造山带北缘向西延伸的组成部分.     

Permo-Carboniferous Radiolarians from the Wupata＇erkan Group, Western South Tianshan, Xinjiang, China

The Wupata‘erkan Group, also called Wupata‘erkan Formation, distributed in the South Tianshan, Xinjiang,China, mainly consists of gray and dark gray fine-grained clastic rocks, interlayered with volcanic rocks, carbonates and cherts. Some ultra-basic rocks (blocks) punctuate the formation. The formation was variously assigned to Silurian-Middle Devonian, Silurian-Lower Devonian, and pre-Devonian, mainly based on Atrypa bodini Mansuy, Hypothyridina parallelepipedia (Brour.) and Prismatophyllum hexagonum Yoh collected from the limestone interlayers, respectively.However, radiolarian fossils obtained from 24 chert specimens of the Wupata‘erkan Group, mainly include Albaillella sp.cf. A. undulata Deflandre, Albaillella sp. cf. A. paradoxa Deflandre, Albaillella cf. A. deflandrei Gourmelon, Albaillella sp. cf. A. indensis Won, Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa Ishiga, Kito and Imoto, Albaillella sp. and Latentifistulidae gen. et. sp.indet., are earliest Carboniferous and Late Permian. The earliest Carboniferous assemblage is characterized by Albaillella sp. cf. A. undulata Deflandre, Albaillella sp. cf. A. paradoxa Deflandre, Albaillella cf. A. deflandrei Gourmelon and Albaillella sp. cf. A. indensis Won, and the Late Permian assemblage by Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa Ishiga, Kito and Imoto. This new stratigraphic evidence indicates that the Wupata‘erkan Group is possibly composed of rocks with different ages from Silurian to Permian, and therefore, it is probably an ophiolite mrlange. The discovery of Late Permian Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa provides more reliable evidence supporting the existence of a Permian relic ancient oceanic basin in the western part of Xinjiang South Tianshan.     

Oceanic ridge off-axis deep structure in the Mansah region (Sumail massif,Oman ophiolite)

Large scale structural mapping of the Oman ophiolite indicates that the Mansah area (Sumail massif) was a ridge off-axis region at the time the ophiolite was detached. This paper presents a detailed structural mapping of the region. We show that, as opposed to other off-axis areas, it contains plunging lineations, correlated with a thick Moho transition zone and chromite pods, indicative of a mantle diapir. However this diapir has a discontinuous structure, it is bounded by shear zones and types of diabases that are not found elsewhere in Oman; it also has a broken crust, strongly affected by hydrothermal alteration. This suggests that Mansah fossilized an off-axis diapir intruding a cooling lithosphere. It may be a good candidate to be the root of an off-axis seamount such as those found in the East Pacific, and may bring new insights into this particular volcanism which we are only beginning to explore.     

豆荚状铬铁矿多阶段形成过程的讨论

豆荚状铬铁矿是铬的主要来源,是中国的紧缺矿种,因此,寻找一批大型铬铁矿矿床已成为解决我国对铬铁矿长期依赖进口的途经.然而对于豆荚状铬铁矿的成因,一直以来都有较大分歧.豆荚状铬铁矿及其围岩地幔橄榄岩中大量异常地幔矿物的发现,引起了各国地质学家对豆荚状铬铁矿成因的新一轮思考.本文着重讨论近年来国内外学者对豆荚状铬铁矿研究的最新成果和进展,包括豆荚状铬铁矿的形态特征、产出规律、矿物化学、铂族元素(PGE)的分布模式,铬铁矿矿石中出现的超高压矿物,以及围岩地幔橄榄岩的演化过程等等.豆荚状铬铁矿中的铬来源于两种辉石的不一致熔融与副矿物铬尖晶石,其形成环境可能在下地幔或者是过渡带的位置.豆荚状中含铂族元素矿物呈包裹体状和裂隙状分布,铂族元素含量与铬铁矿形成过程中的S饱和程度有关,具有多期性的特征.进而初步地拟定了豆荚状铬铁矿形成过程存在四个阶段,分别为铬的来源阶段、铬尖晶石及超高压矿物的结晶阶段、铬铁矿的成矿阶段、铬铁矿的就位阶段,而每一阶段的特征还需进一步细化与翔实,并且需要对不同岩体不同产出的豆荚状铬铁矿矿床进行详细的对比研究.     

Petrology and geochemistry of mafic and ultramafic cumulate rocks from the eastern part of the Sabzevar ophiolite (NE Iran): Implications for their petrogenesis and tectonic setting

The Late Cretaceous Sabzevar ophiolite represents one of the largest and most complete fragments of Tethyan oceanic lithosphere in the NE Iran. It is mainly composed of serpentinized mantle peridotites slices; nonetheless, minor tectonic slices of all crustal sequence constituents are observed in this ophiolite. The crustal sequence contains a well-developed ultramafic and mafic cumulates section, comprising plagioclase-bearing wehrlite, olivine clinopyroxenite, olivine gabbronorite, gabbronorite, amphibole gabbronorite and quartz gabbronorite with adcumulate, mesocumulate, heteradcumulate and orthocumulate textures. The crystallization order for these rocks is olivine ​± ​chromian spinel → clinopyroxene → plagioclase → orthopyroxene → amphibole. The presence of primary magmatic amphiboles in the cumulate rocks shows that the parent magma evolved under hydrous conditions. Geochemically, the studied rock units are characterized by low TiO₂ (0.18–0.57 ​wt.%), P₂O₅ (<0.05 ​wt.%), K₂O (0.01–0.51 ​wt.%) and total alkali contents (0.12–3.04 ​wt.%). They indicate fractionated trends in the chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) plots and multi-element diagrams (spider diagrams). The general trend of the spider diagrams exhibit slight enrichment in large ion lithophile elements (LILEs) relative to high field strength elements (HFSEs) and positive anomalies in Sr, Pb and Eu and negative anomalies in Zr and Nb relative to the adjacent elements. The REE plots of these rocks display increasing trend from La to Sm, positive Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu1 ​= ​1.06–1.54) and an almost flat pattern from medium REE (MREE) to heavy REE (HREE) region [(Gd/Yb)_N ​= ​1–1.17]. Moreover, clinopyroxenes from the cumulate rocks have low REE contents and show marked depletion in light REE (LREE) compared to MREE and HREE [(La/Sm)_N ​= ​0.10–0.27 and (La/Yb)_N ​= ​0.08–0.22]. The composition of calculated melts in equilibrium with the clinopyroxenes from less evolved cumulate samples are closely similar to island arc tholeiitic (IAT) magmas. Modal mineralogy, geochemical features and REE modeling indicate that Sabzevar cumulate rocks were formed by crystal accumulation from a hydrous depleted basaltic melt with IAT affinity. This melt has been produced by moderate to high degree (~15%) of partial melting a depleted mantle source, which partially underwent metasomatic enrichment from subducted slab components in an intra-oceanic arc setting.     

Early Carboniferous ophiolite in central Qiangtang,northern Tibet: record of an oceanic back-arc system in the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean

Zircon U–Pb dating of two samples of metagabbro from the Riwanchaka ophiolite yielded early Carboniferous ages of 354.4 ± 2.3 Ma and 356.7 ± 1.9 Ma. Their positive zircon εHf(t) values (+7.9 to +9.9) indicate that these rocks were derived from a relatively depleted mantle. The metagabbros can be considered as two types: R1 and R2. Both types are tholeiitic, with depletion of high-field-strength elements (HFSE) and enrichment of large-ion lithophile elements (LILE) similar to those of typical back-arc basin basalts (BABB), such as Mariana BABB and East Scotia Ridge BABB. Geochemical and isotopic characteristics indicate that the R1 metagabbro originated from a back-arc basin spreading ridge with addition of slab-derived fluids, whereas the R2 metagabbro was derived from a back-arc basin mantle source, with involvement of melts and fluids from subducted ocean crust. The Riwanchaka ophiolite exhibits both mid-ocean ridge basalts- and arc-like geochemical affinities, consistent with coeval ophiolites from central Qiangtang. Observations indicate that the Qiangtang ophiolites developed during the Late Devonian–early Carboniferous (D₃–C₁) in a back-arc spreading ridge above an intra-oceanic subduction zone. Based on our data and previous studies, we propose that an oceanic back-arc basin system existed in the Longmuco–Shuanghu–Lancang Palaeo-Tethys Ocean during the D₃–C₁ period.     

滇川西部金沙江石炭纪蛇绿岩SHRIMP测年:古特提斯洋壳演化的同位素年代学制约

本文应用SHRIMP方法精确测定了金沙江蛇绿岩带中蛇绿岩的辉长岩和斜长岩、呈脉状产于辉长岩和变质橄橄岩中的斜长花岗岩、以及呈岩株状侵入蛇绿岩中的花岗闪长岩的锆石U-Pb年龄,提供了古特提斯洋壳演化的年代学制约。滇西之用层状角闪辉长岩的年龄为328±8Ma,书松斜长岩为329±7Ma,白马雪山辉长岩为282～285Ma,它们可能反映了海底扩张不同阶段的时代。研究还表明,在这些辉长岩和斜长岩中,部分锆石记录了375～352Ma的略老的年龄,暗示蛇绿岩浆活动可能始于晚泥盆世。在金沙江蛇绿岩中,滇西娘九丁斜长花岗岩和川西雪堆斜长花岗岩,具有高硅低钾的成分特征。但是,这些岩石的REE总量高,LREE富集;Sr初始值高,达0.7058～0.7070;在其锆石组成中,存在继承锆石。这些证据表明斜长花岗岩中存在陆壳物质的混染,可能与洋壳俯冲消减有关。娘九丁斜长花岗岩的年龄为285±6Ma,雪堆斜长花岗岩为300±5Ma,记录了古特提斯洋壳俯冲消减事件。滇西吉义独花岗闪长岩,呈岩株状侵入蛇绿岩中,年龄为263±6Ma,限定了蛇绿混杂岩的年代上限。     

内蒙古北山地区芨芨台子-小黄山蛇绿岩构造属性及与成矿关系:来自阿民乌素地幔橄榄岩印证

阿民乌素地幔橄榄岩属芨芨台子-小黄山蛇绿岩带一部分,该构造带南北两侧地质体无明显差异,不具分界断裂的构造特征。本文对阿民乌素地幔橄榄岩与月牙山地幔橄榄岩进行岩石化学、地球化学对比分析,为芨芨台子-小黄山蛇绿岩构造属性提供新依据,并对阿民乌素蛇绿岩成矿潜力进行分析研究。笔者所在团队在地幔橄榄岩上部的辉长岩中获得LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb同位素年龄值为462.5±3.2 Ma,属中奥陶世。其上发育奥陶纪-志留纪公婆泉组岛弧拉斑玄武岩。该期地幔橄榄岩轻重稀土之比LR/HR＝1.63~3.68, (La/Sm)N＝1.70~6.92,(Gd/Yb)N＝0.36~0.52,表明岩石轻稀土略富集,稀土配分曲线呈不规则“U”型,估算其为原始地幔橄榄岩经过10%~20%部分熔融的残留物。原始地幔标准化蛛网图富集高场强元素U、Zr、Hf、Yb和大离子亲石元素Rb、Sr,亏损高场强元素Nb、Ti和大离子亲石元素Ba。与月牙山地幔橄榄岩标准化蛛网图对比,最大区别在于阿民乌素地幔橄榄岩明显亏损高场强元素Ti。初步研究认为阿民乌素地幔橄榄岩属SSZ型、高压型蛇绿岩,是岛弧裂谷的产物。该橄榄岩具有形成大型铬铁矿的成矿构造背景,是寻找蛇绿岩型铬铁矿的有利部位。